Farnel and James Mardling were both killed in action together on October 4, 1917 at Passchendaele in the First World War.

The Port Fairy brothers were former students of St Patrick's College, having bordered there between 1903 and 1904 (Farnel) and 1914 (James).

Farnel enlisted in July 1915, while his brother James enlisted four months later in November. They were in the 8th Battalion and operating the same machine gun when they were killed during a battle against the Germans.

Farnel was aged 31 and James was 27.

On Tuesday, St Patrick's College will hold an Anzac Day memorial service where the Mardling brothers will be honoured.

A descendant of the brothers, Rose Hudson, will be at the service after she contacted the college in 2021 offering them the opportunity to display or view James' war diaries before they are donated to the National War Museum in Canberra.

Ms Hudson became the custodian of the five diaries after her brother Steven died in 2021. Farnel's war diaries have not been uncovered.

Ms Hudson spent five months transcribing James' diaries, which she said was emotional at times, after her mother suggested they be transcribed before being put on display.

She said growing up, she always knew the story about her two great-uncles but the biggest revelation while transcribing the diaries was Farnel and James were actually young men, not older men as she had envisaged.

"These two soldiers, great-uncles, in our family are kind of legend. Growing up we always knew about the two uncles that were killed on the fourth of October, 1917," Ms Hudson said.

"We always knew about them and to me the biggest revelation was, I am in my late 50s now and I have two sons in their 20s and to me growing up, and to my brothers and sisters, these two soldiers just seemed like they were old men.

"It was always my dad saying, 'my two uncles', and and my dad was old and his father was a very old man when we were kids, so in my mind, I thought these two really old guys but the diaries brought them (Farnel and James) both back to life in a sense. As young, dynamic young men with hopes and dreams, it was really quite emotional.

Farnel worked as an auctioneer for the Fraser family, while James worked for the Union Bank which later became the ANZ bank.

"These boys, they were Catholic boys who signed up, they volunteered. They weren't conscripted and they had a bit of a rough time as well because a lot of Catholics in the First World War were conscientious objectors and didn't want to go and fight in the war, or their mothers didn't want them to," Ms Hudson said.

Ms Hudson, whose grandfather was one of Farnel and James' nine siblings, said her family felt proud St Patrick's College was recognising the brothers.

"We thought the story would be on interest to the students and for the history department and all the fact the two boys were ex-students. Their names are on an honour roll at the school," she said.

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"I hope the students at St Pat's can relate, put themselves in those soldiers' boots and get a better idea of war and how pointless and futile war is."

Ms Hudson said the allies won the battle the Mardling brothers were fighting in when they were killed but a short time later, the Germans won it back.

"They died for nothing," she said.

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